accommodation expenses for business trip

dllive

Hi

Im self employed and need to spend a couple of days in London for some meetings. Thankfully I have an old friend I can stay with for the 3 nights Im up there.

What can I claim for accommodation? https://www.contractorcalculator.co.uk/contractors_expense_staying_friends_family.aspx and https://www.thefriendlyaccountants.co.uk/overnight-business-trips/ suggests £25 per night.

And roughly what would HMRC think a reasonable daily subsistence amount is? £20pd? (Ill obviously keep all receipts).

Thanks

Jeremy535897

If you are self employed, as opposed to being a director or employee of your own or an umbrella company, those links are not strictly relevant.

If you stay with your friend for free, there is nothing you can claim as you have incurred nothing. If you pay him a reasonable amount for the accommodation, you can claim it.

The same applies to meals. You can claim a reasonable amount, so not a 3 course meal at the Savoy, but you would claim the cost of your friend's meal as well if this was effectively no more than a reasonable payment for the accommodation.

If there is any private element to the trip (like a visit to a relative) the costs would have to be reasonably apportioned.

Thrugelmir

Breakfast , lunch and dinner add up. £40 - £50 a day wouldn't be unreasonable, 

dllive

Thanks guys. So perhaps I should get a receipt from my friend to say Ive paid him money for accommodation? Or - like you say - in lieu of that keep the receipts of any meals I buy him. (I feel I should offer him something for letting me stay at his! He's saving me hundreds in hotel bills!!).

Also - and I really should know this by now - do I only need to retain the VAT portion of a receipt rather than the receipt which itemises the things I bought?

Grumpy_chap

The VAT is only relevant if you are VAT-registered, so I assume you are.

Why would you not keep the fully itemised receipt alongside the VAT-receipt?  Doing so is the best form of record in the event that you are audited on the expenses as your means to demonstrate these are actually genuine business expenses and not just any random thing.